Preliminary evaluation of improved banana varieties in Mozambique

Abstract

Banana (Musa spp.) production in Mozambique is largely confined to the Cavendish variety that is eaten as a dessert. On the other hand, banana is a staple food crop in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The introduction of a range of high yielding and disease resistant cooking and dessert varieties in Mozambique could play a potential role in ensuring food security and raising incomes of millions of small scale farmers. In the framework of a USAID-funded project on dissemination and evaluation of improved banana varieties, plantlets of new Musa hybrids were distributed to small-scale farmers. In addition, several demonstration plots and an on-station trial at the Agrarian Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM), Umbeluzi research farm were established. The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the general performance of the hybrids in the different locations and analyse data collected from one of the sites, and (ii) to assess farmer acceptability of the hybrids in one of the agro-ecologies in Mozambique. The FHIA (Fundacion Hondurena de Investigacion Agricola) hybrids performed relatively well in the more moist agro-ecologies and where irrigation was available, but not in the drier areas in the south of Maputo. Although 'FHIA 17' was the most vigorous, this variety took the longest time to produce a bunch. The hybrid, 'SH 3640' produced the largest bunch but this was not significantly different from that of 'Grand Naine' the local check used in the trials. The hybrid 'SH3460' and 'Grand Naine' emerged as the best cultivars in terms of post-harvest quality and acceptability. Less than 50% of the participants indicated their preference for 'FHIA17', 'FHIA21' or 'FHIA23'. Feedback from farmers involved in the on-farm activities indicated that those from the central and southern parts of the country preferred dessert types, while those from the north preferred both dessert and cooking types.

Growth, yield and Fusarium wilt resistance of six FHIA tetraploid bananas (Musa spp.) grown in the Australian subtropics

“…When their standard Cavendish cultivar, 'Grande Naine' was compared to these two hybrids, and unlike our results where 'Williams' performed well in relation to the hybrids, it produced small bunches (12.6 kg) and had lower productivity (16.4 t/ha/yr). On the other hand, Uazire et al (2008) found their standard, 'Grand Naine', produced large bunches (34.1 kg) and cycled well (63.4 weeks), and was significantly better than FHIA-17 (21.5 kg bunches and 66.3 weeks to bunch emergence).…”

“…Others such as SH-3640.10, or 'High Noon', have recently been shown to have excellent eating qualities and research has shown that a significant population of Australian consumers prefer it over Cavendish and Lady Finger in blind taste tests . Similarly SH-3640 was found to have good post-harvest quality and acceptability in terms of aroma and palatability with consumers in southern Mozambique, whereas less than 50% indicated a preference for FHIA-17, FHIA-21 and FHIA-23 (Uazire et al, 2008). However in Cameroon FHIA-21 and FHIA-17 are preferred (Tenkouano et al, 2011).…”

“…It is interesting that although the hybrids were bred and selected in the tropics they, for the most part, show excellent productivity in the subtropics. In fact the FHIA hybrids have performed well in a variety of situations around the world whether it be the lowland tropics of Rwanda (Gaidashova et al, 2008), the wet subtropics of São Paulo, Brazil (Nomura et al, 2013) or the dry subtropics of Mozambique (Uazire et al, 2008). In Cuba disease resistant FHIA hybrids are increasingly replacing susceptible banana and plantain cultivars on the island and, as early as 2000, accounted for over 12% of total banana production (Frison and Sharrock, 2000).…”

“…While the agronomic performance of 'High Noon' was similar to FHIA-18 in many respects, it did produce significantly larger fingers (Table 4). In the dry subtropics of Mozambique, Uazire et al (2008) regarded SH3640 as the best performing of the FHIA hybrids evaluated (others included FHIA-17, FHIA-21 and FHIA-23), and comparable to 'Grand Naine'.…”

Management of Fusarium wilt of banana: A review with special reference to tropical race 4

“…in subsistence circumstances). Nonetheless, their adoption by local producers still depends on local uses and preferences, and hybrids that would be readily accepted in one area might not be used in another (Nowakunda and Tushemereirwe, 2004;Dzomeku et al, 2007;Gaidashova et al, 2008;Njuguna et al, 2008;Uazire et al, 2008). Understanding these requirements is key to the successful deployment of clones that would tolerate TR4.…”